The A.I. sometimes puts up a pretty good defense

[billcorr]

In a recent multiplayer game, the Belgian A.I. stymied the human player at the German-Belgium border.

Thanks to RikiBreeiki for the screen shot:

Perhaps it is a combination of

• an improvement of the A.I. template
• less A.I. shuffling resulting in increased entrenchment bonus
• the effect of the new leadership effects
• the ascendancy of the defense
• something else...___________________ (fill in the blank)

 

[Meglok]

In a recent multiplayer game, the Belgian A.I. stymied the human player at the German-Belgium border.

Thanks to RikiBreeiki for the screen shot:

View attachment 347027

Perhaps it is a combination of

• an improvement of the A.I. template
• less A.I. shuffling resulting in increased entrenchment bonus
• the effect of the new leadership effects
• the ascendancy of the defense
• something else...___________________ (fill in the blank)

Have to agree, the ai will fight better now due to all of the above. The shuffling issue has really improved and that is huge. Rebalance of combat stats has also helped the ai, even if it can lead to stagnant warfare at times. If the ai learns to use Force Attack on offense it might be interesting.

 

[Joonnnyy]

If the ai learns to use Force Attack on offense it might be interesting.

i had the japanese ai use the defence power once in my last game as china
it was holding a province with a single division a 1.5 org, a day or two later it was still there same division same 1.5 org
i was very confused at first, but after a minute i remembered these powers and after 7 days the now almost dead jananese divison was encircleds and died, since it was the only division that had the power and the fronline around comletly crumbled within the 7 days

but this was the only time i have noticed the ai use any command power

 

[SeekTruthFromFx]

In a recent multiplayer game, the Belgian A.I. stymied the human player at the German-Belgium border.

Thanks to RikiBreeiki for the screen shot:

View attachment 347027

Perhaps it is a combination of

• an improvement of the A.I. template
• less A.I. shuffling resulting in increased entrenchment bonus
• the effect of the new leadership effects
• the ascendancy of the defense
• something else...___________________ (fill in the blank)

I agree that the AI has improved in 1.5.x, and the devs really deserve credit for it, but as a non-min-maxing SP, I'm puzzled as to why this example is seen as significant. Why is it surprising that attacking >8 entrenched infantry divisions is too hard a task for one infantry division? Was it previously the MP meta that one human div was worth eight AI divs? I've seen that Belgium usually has almost its entire army in that one province on the German border, and I've seen the AI bypass that through Luxembourg (as any competent SP would do, though I suppose in MP it might be impossible because Luxembourg is guaranteed or something). What's new here?

 

[War_lord]

I've noticed that the AI actually builds proper infantry divisions (7 inf 2 art) now instead of spamming 8 width trash infantry, that would explain the difference. Still, I don't see this as tactical brilliance on the AI's part.

 

[billcorr]

Why is it surprising that attacking >8 entrenched infantry divisions is too hard a task for one infantry division?

What might be notable is that the A.I. units appear to easily obtain > 1,000 defense.

Admittedly, that could have been happening all along and I haven't noticed.

 

[Dan1109]

7/2 inf/art is only 20W. The AI must have several +27W divisions. Look closely. 200W front, Belgium is USING 159W over 5 divisions. Incredibly high stats buffed due to I’m sure full entrenchment, regional fighter airsuperiorty (its massive btw, note how allied AirPower has done 17 org and 10% strength damage to the one poor German division, however German AirPower with thrice the number of aircraft are 100% disrupted and doing nothing), probably a river crossing to boot.

Yeah, AI has improved indeed!! Looks like you can’t be lazy and reckless with the AI anymore.

 

[dave1233]

I agree that the AI has improved in 1.5.x, and the devs really deserve credit for it, but as a non-min-maxing SP, I'm puzzled as to why this example is seen as significant. Why is it surprising that attacking >8 entrenched infantry divisions is too hard a task for one infantry division? Was it previously the MP meta that one human div was worth eight AI divs? I've seen that Belgium usually has almost its entire army in that one province on the German border, and I've seen the AI bypass that through Luxembourg (as any competent SP would do, though I suppose in MP it might be impossible because Luxembourg is guaranteed or something). What's new here?

In general the Belgian/Netherlands/Luxembourg ai tended to get just rolled over by German tanks in 1.4.2. In this game they actually seemed to be contributing more to the fight than in previous patches. While there were a lot of things in the Belgians favour (air superiority, cas support, entrenchment etc) the ai is both using good division templates and entrenchment which wouldn't always have happened before.

Ignore the fact that Germany was attacking with 1 infantry division. That was probably either a pinning attack or lag causing it.

I don't have a save from earlier in the game but in the end save that I have the belgian ai has also done a very good job of specialising their research. There is minimal air, navy and tank research done but instead they have focused on infantry and as such actually have the techs to compete well with a human player there. I'm not sure if this has changed in the new patch but I don't recall seeing the ai have this good research previously.

 

[billcorr]

the belgian ai has also done a very good job of specialising their research. There is minimal air, navy and tank research done but instead they have focused on infantry and as such actually have the techs to compete well with a human player there. I'm not sure if this has changed in the new patch but I don't recall seeing the ai have this good research previously.

Good observation.

Anyone know if the A.I.'s research has changed in this new patch?

 

[Lord of Beer]

• something else...___________________ (fill in the blank)

Nerfs to soft attack for artillery and tanks.

Fighting for each tile is fun in the Netherlands in Belgium where you only need 3 tiles to win.

Try doing it in USSR where you need to take hundreds of tiles. Its gets real old real fast. You can't really create encirclements with tanks anymore since they take so long to push back infantry.

I really hope that 1.5.2 sees some increases to soft attack for tanks and arty. Basically any item that had stat decreases should have them reversed.

 

[tagzilla]

I've seen the ai reinforce provinces that they were losing the defense in more often now. It makes attacking them very difficult in some cases. Also it seems they try to pin units that have a chance of encircling them. Makes fighting the ai more enjoyable.